I had a late start yesterday due to a meeting, but I was riding full speed to Sierra road to watch the riders suffer up the 15% grade. As I got close, I noticed the helis headed toward the start of the climb: they were moving fast. I ended up at the base and saw a few stragglers head up the hill. I changed direction and rode down Piedmont to see the riders negotiate the sharp corner from Calavares (steep hill) to Piedmont. Waiting around at the corner I noticed that it was going to be an interesting turn because a stop sign with an elevated curb separated both lanes. I watched Levi and the chase group slowly round the corner and rocket toward downtown. Next I decided to ride down Piedmont on the sidewalk (not very many people were on this section). The next group of about 6 riders were overtaking me so I decided to ride a little faster abreast of them (yes, I’m that guy). They fly by and I start up a slight rise in the road.

I hear “Red Jersey, Red Jersey.” I’m wearing a vanilla Pearl red jersey. “Red Jersey.” I’m thinking, WTF, I’m on the sidewalk because there is a race on the road, does the race “police” want me to walk? I peddle faster. “Red Jersey” I kick it up a notch, I’m amazed that a race volunteer can run that fast. Finally, “Red Jersey” is shouted very close to me. I stop feeling like I’m going to be busted for a crime. I look around and it is a CSC rider. “I need your rear wheel”. 5 seconds elapse were I’m trying to think about the fact that I’m riding my road bike and not my newer Cervelo and my road bike has a 9-speed cassette. My response, “Ok, but it may not fit”—not the technical response that I wanted. “It’s better than this” He lifts up his Zipp 404 that is trashed. Ok, I take the rear wheel off my bike and I’m not quite sure if I’m supposed to pop it in or he is going to do it. He puts it in, but the chain isn’t lined up on the cassette… I go down and line it up to pop the wheel in and he moves me aside to tighten the QR. He says- “This had to be the slowest wheel change ever” Me-“uh, sorry”. “Do you want a boost?” “Yeah”. I finally get my act together and launch him forward with a good full run in my cycling shoes (I’m glad I’ve got Crank Bros cleats). “Come to the finish, Team CSC, We will hook you up.” I then realized that I never even looked at his face and I don’t know who is on the CSC roster this year.

I’m standing around and now it is sinking in… What am I supposed to do now? I’m about 8-10 miles to the finish. I talk to several people on the side of the road and some of them thought that I was in the race and he was my team mate—nice. One of them offers me a ride downtown and I take it. It turns out that this guy is now retired from working 35 years in the same company that I work for. The day is getting more bizarre. It takes awhile to make it downtown with the road closures and by the time I arrive at the finish, Levi is on the podium. I go around to where the team cars are located, but CSC is nowhere to be found. I talk to a mechanic from Colorado with Mavic race support (he tells me- “you're a hero”) and he gives me the hotel that they are staying at which happens to be in Monterey (about 70 miles away). I head home by riding light rail.

I call the hotel from my house and bounce around a few rooms until I get ahold of Kim Andersen. After I tell my story, (yeah, I’m that guy) I tell him that I won’t be able to make any more stages… He says, “I don’t know what we can do.” “Can’t you mail me my wheel back; can you write down my address?” “No… that wouln’t work to well… I’m not great with writing english….” Hmmm... “What rider was it?” “Bobby…. Yeah, you should talk to him… here’s his room number.”

I call and leave a message with my phone number. Half an hour goes by and my phone rings… I’m on the phone with Bobby Julich.

He explains that he was turning onto Piedmont and he forgot about the traffic island and slammed into it. He continued riding for 1.5 miles when he saw me. “There was no way that I was going to let you get away without me taking your wheel.” I give him my address and comment that he could throw some zipps in with the box… He laughs and says that he will try and put “something in there from the team.”

I’m looking for a photo of Julich finishing with a yellow tire michelin rear wheel.

Thats too cool. As for the wheel - well I would have thought CSC would want it back but if not, you should consider contacting Zipp to get a Return Authorization (RA) to have the rim replaced! Afterwards, you have a new wheel that you can sell on Ebay or use for racing. Â¯\_(ãƒ„)_/Â¯

That's a pretty cool story, man. I don't remember what the UCI regs are on taking equipment from outside the race, but I'd have done the same thing (though he might not have done so well with a Campy cassette).

You've now got a cool memento. <If you're gonna be dumb, you gotta be tough> Get Fitter!Proud member of the Smartasscrew, MONSTER CLUB Get your FIX today?

I'd hope he takes proper care of you... those things are expensive for us mere mortals. For how large of an operation CSC is, he can certainly 'do something for you' more than just mail your wheel back. For pete's sake - you being willing to loan him your $1000+ wheel allowed him to finish the race! -dt2511

"Finally figured out how to get faster... Train more." - cerveloguy 3/6/08

As for the wheel, I might spend a few bucks and send it back to zipp for repair! I don't thing that it woudl be free, but the story might give you some street cred ;-) It's T'war like 'car' This is your life, and it's ending one minute at a time. - Fight Club Cervelo | Focus

I was watching a crit about 5 years ago when someone came walking up with a flat. I offered my rear wheel and he started to put it on and then just stopped, saying there is a rule about using support other than neutral or team.

send a PM to Joshatzipp here and I bet he'd be willing to make a trade for something. They often like to analyze crash damage for structural improvements, they sponsor CSC and a story that Bobby J pinched your wheel is just hilarious.

Regardless of how this situation ends up with the wheel...that's one hell of a story. Heck, I'd probably call it a day and keep the wheel around just to tell the story... *********************** Back in the saddle!

I should add some clarification... The photo is his wheel that he blew up. My wheel was a basic vanilla Shimano WH-540. It should be in the mail soon. He rode the Shimano to the finish. I'm looking around for a photo of him finishing with my wheel.

Yeah, I'm hoping for the "hook up," but I'm a bit disappointed that it seemed to be a big deal to mail me my wheel back...

is the tub punctured or is it still useable? if it's still useable you have a spare tub right there. add to that the dura ace 10 speed cassette, and the 24H zipp rear hub and that's the total value of your shimano wheel right there. not to mention the zipp skewer. Now all you have to do is ask zipp to sell you a flashpoint rear rim and you can recycle the spokes too. Not bad for a brand new race wheel.

LOL...I saw you on TV! I remember the yellow tire clear as day on the right side of the road - I commented to a friend that I miss my old yellow Vittoria Corsa CX tires....I will see if I can get a screen shot as I have it on the DVR. ----------------------------------------------------------

add to that the dura ace 10 speed cassette, and the 24H zipp rear hub and that's the total value of your shimano wheel right there. not to mention the zipp skewer. Now all you have to do is ask zipp to sell you a flashpoint rear rim and you can recycle the spokes too. Not bad for a brand new race wheel.

That's a good idea... And I could keep the rim for the garage wall hall of fame. But, I'm looking at the Zipp website. The Flashpoint 60 has 20 spokes for the rear... The 404 has 24.